How to Make a Handmade Fabric Dog Collar

Use fabric to create a collar that fits your dog's personality.

Dog collars are a must for displaying tags and attaching leashes, but there is no reason to use only the boring collars available at stores. Find the materials for making your own durable but attractive collars at any craft or fabric store. Use plastic clasps instead of metal. Metal clasps tend to rust, unless they're made of stainless steel, although a metal D-ring is suitable for a tag and necessary for a leash fastener. Plastic clasps can break easily, freeing your dog if the collar becomes tangled on a fence or other obstruction.

Things You'll Need

• Measuring tape
• Nylon webbing
• Fusible seam tape
• Fabric
• Iron
• Sewing machine and thread
• 1-inch D-ring
• 1-inch slide adjuster
• 1-inch side release buckle clasp

Instructions

1. Measure your dog's neck. Add 12 inches to this measurement. Cut the nylon webbing and the fusible seam tape to this length.

2. Pass the ends of the webbing through a candle flame to melt them slightly, so the webbing doesn't fray.

3. Cut a strip of fabric 1 inch longer than the nylon webbing. Make the fabric strip 2 inches wide.

4. Fold the long sides of the fabric strip 1/2 inch in toward the wrong side of the fabric, so the raw edges meet in the middle. Iron the fold so it's crisp.

5. Lay the seam tape on top of the nylon webbing, and iron it on using the heat setting recommended by the manufacturer. Lay the fabric strip, right-side up, on top the webbing so the ends of the fabric extend 1/2 inch on either end. Iron the fabric to the tape -- adhering it to the webbing.

6. Fold the overhanging ends of the fabric over to the back side of the webbing. Topstitch along the top and bottom edges of the fabric, using matching thread.

7. Slide the D-ring and the adjuster slide onto the webbing. Thread the two clasp pieces onto opposite ends of the webbing. The pronged portion of the clasp attaches to the same end as the adjuster slide, with the receiver part of the clasp on the D-ring side.

8. Lay the collar with the fabric side down. Fold the webbing over 8 inches on the end with the pronged portion of the clasp. Feed the end of the folded portion through the adjuster slide, leaving a 2-inch tail.

9. Move the D-ring so it is against the edge of the clasp receiver. Fold the webbing over 3 inches.

10. Stitch the end of the webbing to the portion of webbing that doubles over the back of the collar by the adjuster loop. Make two lines of stitches, parallel to the end of the webbing, so the end is securely attached.

11. Sew two lines of stitches, 1/4 inch apart, to attach the loose end of the webbing to the main collar at the D-ring end. Move the D-ring so it sits against these stitches. Sew two more lines of stitches on the other side of the D-ring, so it won't slide toward the receiver clasp.

12. Place the collar on your dog. Adjust the size of the collar, using the slide adjuster.

Tips & Warnings

• Use a 3/4-inch-wide fabric ribbon instead of a fabric strip to make the collar, if you prefer.

References

• Sewing and Craft Alliance: Topstitching